บท 61: Intervention

Pyrrha was having a bad day

…..Her day- possibly her last one in this world- had taken a dark turn. Faced with an apparently unbeatable adversary, she grappled with the realization that victory was out of reach.

"Haaah!"

Her sword pressed against the ashen black-haired woman's neck, Pyrrha strained to drive it deeper, to her surprise, the woman countered with unexpected strength, resisting the blade

Gritting her teeth, she witnessed as the bright amber-eyed woman heated her sword with her hands that were enveloped in fire

SCREEEEEEECH

Green eyes widening in surprise, Pyrrha looked through the window, seeing a Dragon Grimm rapidly approaching the tower

SNAP

A snapping sound echoed through the surroundings, a shockwave blasting and throwing her back just after Cinder broke her sword in half

The surroundings were devastated by the shockwave, as now with the dragon's help, the tower lay mostly damaged as their battle was exposed to the outside world

Crawling with her battered body toward her shield, Pyrrha paused when she saw the black-haired woman floating in the air, looking down at her

Looking around, she quickly stood up-!

"Haaaaaaaaaah"

Pyrrha screamed at the top of her lungs as she unleashed her semblance, Polaris, to control the large piece of metallic debris and launch it toward the opposing woman

CLACK

And true to that, her target was hit by the debris, pushing Cinder back to the ground. Pyrrha raised her arm, shield quickly attached to her vambraces, and did a side roll

BOOM

But her opponent wasn't down, Cinder blasted through the debris as she floated back up in the air, looking down with anger on her face as the black-haired woman started firing blasts of fire in her direction

She tried dodging-! But when she couldn't, she quickly put her shield up to protect herself

Cinder smirked seeing her getting surrounded by flames, her confidence at an all-time high currently

With an exclamation, Pyrrha walked through the fire despite the pain and threw her shield at the black-haired woman

Which she easily deflected by slapping it away. So with a smirk still on her face, Cinder looked toward the red-haired girl, wanting to mock her

"Ah...!" The black haired woman exclaimed, finding herself surrounded by gigantic gears made of metal

Looking at Cinder with a strained expression, Pyrrha quickly manipulated the gigantic metallic gears to attack the opposing woman who was thrown to the ground and surrounded

With a pathetic whimper, Cinder was thrown to the ground by a gigantic metallic gear, while the other ones were slowly and menacingly approaching her downed body

Slowly clenching her hand, Pyrrha controlled the enormous gears to envelop Cinder and crush her to death

A flash of of fire-!

That's all the redhead saw before she was once again lifted off the ground and thrown violently backward

Instantly, she tried standing up, tensing her body in preparation as she saw the opposite party holding a bow and preparing to shoot her with an arrow

"Haiyah!"

Turning to the side slightly, Pyrrha used her center of gravity and mass to her advantage to throw her shield at the black-haired woman with concentrated power

Loosening up her hold on the bowstring, Cinder shot the arrow at the red-haired girl's shield-!

But the expected outcome didn't come-!

The arrow phased through her shield, completely bypassing it as it shot forward the wide-eyed redhead

"Ahh!"

She winced in pain as the sudden blow penetrated her calf, her body unwillingly kneeling as her full movement was impaired

Pyrrha, battered but determined, stood up once again-!

"Nhh!"

But Pyrrha once again dropped to the ground as she winched, trying her best to maintain herself stable with her arms

"It's unfortunate that you were promised a power that was never truly yours..." Circling the redhead for a moment, Cinder kneeled in front of Pyrrha

Lifting the red-haired girl's chin, the black-haired woman continued "But take comfort in knowing that I will use it in ways you could never have imagined"

Trying to 'reassure' her, Cinder smirked as she looked down on the girl

"Do you believe in destiny?" Pyrrha suddenly asked her enemy, accepting her fate

... She knew she would die at this point

'I'm sorry, Jaune...' She inwardly apologized to her beloved for not being strong enough to live through this

"Yes"

Standing up slowly, Cinder replied to her inquiry as she readied her bow, preparing to deliver a fatal blow and put an end to this

Knocking her arrow on the bow, the black-haired woman aimed at the girl's heart

Pyrrha closed her eyes in acceptance of her death...

Clap.... Clap.... Clap.... Clap... Clap....

The sounds of clapping echoed through the surrounding broken tower

Hearing the clapping sound, Pyrrha, anticipating pain, opened her green eyes with a mix of surprise and curiosity

Looking around, she found the presence of a silver-haired boy who was around her age, his expression oozing amusement as he clapped his hands

Cinder, the woman who was about to kill her, quickly turned around and aimed her bow behind her, where the silver-haired was standing in the distance

No questions asked. Cinder's expression was twisted in a grimace, her eyes radiating weariness and a hint of fear in her eyes as she was ready to strike

Pyrrha couldn't understand why Cinder attacked the boy. With her arrogant personality, she should have questioned him and mocked him before attacking him

And as the black-haired woman's arrow flew across the air and toward the boy, Pyrrha's eyes widened in surprise as she instantly understood why Cinder was so wary of a boy her age

His face turning ice cold, the boy raised his finger toward the direction of the arrow

"A pathetic attempt"

His ruthless voice echoing out, a small purplish-tinted abyss vortex came out of his finger, enveloping the arrow that was on its way to penetrate his body

When the vortex was gone, the arrow had disappeared

"You-! Who are you?!" The woman who fired the arrow screamed at him

... Her face was horrified as if she had seen a ghost. Truthfully, this is the first time Pyrrha saw Cinder having such an intense reaction to something

Even her usual smirk and arrogant attitude were nowhere to be seen, instead, only terror was present

"Heh" The boy chucked "That's an idiotic question, isn't it?"

He looked at the Fall Maiden with mirth in his eyes, taking pleasure in her unfounded fear

"I'm here to kill you"

Announcing his eerie declaration, the boy crossed his arms in front of him

"B-but why?! W-why are you interfering?!" Cinder asked him with a subdued attitude, giving for the first time in her life respect to someone other than her mistress

The red-haired girl was dumbfounded at her attitude. Was it his aura that she was afraid of?

Pyrrha shook her head in denial. Although the boy's aura did feel oppressive, it still wasn't as bad as the feelings that the Grimm dragon invoked on her

"That's a good question...." The blue-eyed boy replied, his expression turning thoughtful as he deeply contemplated her question

"Well...."

Cinder looked hopeful, as she started gathering her magic to sneak attack him while he was replying to her question

But he just waved his hands, and the black-haired woman froze in place, unable to move

"Tell me something...."

The boy's golden/blue Aura flared out, looking at her menacingly as his silver hair slowly transformed into pure golden

"What reason does a father need to save his child?"

With his hair turning completely golden, he locked eyes with the fiery woman, his red, octogram pupils looking at her with a cold gaze

"What!?" A shout left Pyrrha as she looked at the boy in front of her

Her mind blanked out. Various thoughts crossing through her brain as she tried to make sense of the familiar/ fatherly aura that he was exuding

"While I'm not lying...." The now golden-haired boy's head snapped to her "A dense and idiotic blonde-haired boy also begged me to save you"

Cinder couldn't move her body, but she could still move her eyes around. But she didn't care about her previous opponent currently-!

"Jaune.....?!"

Pyrrha stared blankly at the ground in contemplation

Recently, it seems that her whole perspective of the world has been turned around

Magic actually existing, the Grimm having a Queen and said Queen raging a war against humanity for centuries....

And now... Can the man in front of her also be explained by magic?

"Don't think too much" His soothing voice snapped her out of her thought

Looking towards him, she saw him smiling gently at her. His smile caused her to have a warmth feeling in her heart

It wasn't like how she felt with Jaune... This warmth was like being embraced by a father

"Although you might have to take care of him more from now on..." The boy/ man trailed off in a somewhat embarrassed voice

"What-"

BOOOOOM

She was interrupted as a booming sound resounded through the broken tower. Looking towards the black-haired woman, Pyrrha saw her exuding burning hot fire of incomprehensible levels, using her magic power in wanton

Pyrrha, who was caught in a maelstrom and was contemplating the current surreal events, widened her eyes as she snapped out of her daze and tensed her injured body in preparation to attack this crazy woman

"....."

She turned her head to the now golden-haired boy, only to see him shaking his head as he put his hands in his pockets

"Haaah...."

An exasperated sigh escaped the boy as Cinder unleashed overwhelming fire

Narrowing his eyes, the air around him turned bone-chilling cold, contrasting with the amber-eyed woman as the freezing temperature around him opposed the hot burning aura of the enemy

... And then, with a flash of bright snowy light, the world turned pure white

...